A week long journey to Melbourne!
Trip Start
Jun 28, 2010
1
21
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Lake Brou, New South Wales, Australia
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Initially, we headed West from Sydney to the Blue Mountains National Park. Although it was a cloudy and drizzly day, we could still appreciate the spectacular views of the different peaks from the lookouts we chose to stop at. We also did a good walking trail so we could view the area from different perspectives. The cloud and the mist actually made the scene surrounding the National Park quite eerie. That night we decided to go back to basics and stay in a free rest area overnight in a tiny little village called Bilpin. Our trusty map informed us that you were able to camp here but we decided to sleep in the boot of Trevor because with the back seats down there was plenty of space for us to fit comfortably!
From the Blue Mountains, we moved back inland towards the quaint little town of Kangaroo Valley. As you come into the town, you travel over quite an impressive sandstone and iron bridge which has a refreshing little swimming area underneath which we later dipped our feet in but decided it was a little too cold for a full swim! We stayed in a cute campsite that had a gorgeous setting - it was a lovely place just to relax.
As we travelled down the South Coast of New South Wales, we hadn't really decided where to end up next but had hoped to do some bush-camping in this week. After speaking to a friendly lady at a visitor information centre, we managed to find our way to a secluded area called Lake Brou...after a 5km dirt road, we arrived at our bush camp destination. We had to bring our own drinking water and the only facility there was a pit toilet...but it didn't matter because we were surrounded by spectacular nature and wildlife. Whilst pitching the tent, I almost put my hand down on a huge hairy spider that looked like it would have a mean bite so we tried to encourage it (with the length of a tent pole) to scurry away from us but instead it decided to crawl onto our tent. After about twenty minutes trying to get rid of it, it landed on the ground again so I then grabbed the mallet and whacked it three times (for good measure) to make sure it wouldn't disturb us again. In the early evening, we thought we'd go for stroll towards the lake which was separated from the sea by a gorgeous, squeaky-clean sand-bank. On our way to the lake, we were amazed to see a baby kangaroo about 3 metres away from us munching away at the grass. Then as we turned the corner, we saw two adult kangaroos enjoying a bit of grub too! They were so tame and interesting to watch.
After staying in Lake Brou, we headed over the border into Victoria to a seaside town called Mallacoota, which sits on the corner of a tiny sea inlet. After setting up camp at a more civilised camp site with showers and laundry (instead of a lone pit-toilet), we headed to the jetty to hire a boat. With Sean as the sailor, we set off onto the high seas...and at times it was actually quite rough! Once we had passed through the channel, we were on open waters and because the boat we were sailing was so tiny, any waves that hit the side of us made our boat rock quite vigourously! Eeek! Mallacoota, as a town had a bit of a quirky nature with a small village feel to it - we actually nearly ended up getting jobs here but decided that we wanted to move on a little more before finding work again!
We eventually arrived in Melbourne after stopping at a couple of little beaches along the South Coast along the way. It had been a wonderful week of wildlife, relaxation and appreciation of nature!!!
